Two of this year's I'm A Celeb castmates were once very closely connected

Jess Battison

One of this year’s I’m A Celeb stars is set for an awkward reunion as the campmates have been revealed.

Yep, in case you missed it the line-up of celebrities heading Down Under was shared yesterday (1 November) with the show set to return later this month.

While there have been plenty of rumours in recent weeks about the stars joining, and ITV previously told LADbible that 'any names suggested for I'm A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!are just speculation', it seems the mix might cause some drama.

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And if there is any, I'm sure we’ll get to the bottom of it thanks to Coleen Rooney’s presence – the ultimate detective, of course.

While there are two BBC Radio 1 hosts heading in along with a Corrie star and TikToker, there’s also Love Islander Maura Higgins.

The 33-year-old appeared on the dating show back in 2019 when she made it to the final. Since then, she’s taken part in Dancing on Ice, hosted the Irish version of Glow Up and is the host of Love Island USA: Aftersun.

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And before she made her name in TV, Higgins worked as a ring girl for several professional boxers including the likes of Anthony Joshua.

During that time, she got together with boxing coach Shane McGuigan when he was commentating on a match in 2018.

Things didn’t quite work out between the pair though, reportedly due to the distance with Higgins living in Ireland and travelling for work while McGuigan was based in London.

While he might not be heading into the jungle to go on I’m a Celeb, his dad, Barry McGuigan is.

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Yeah, sounds awkward right?

Although, it doesn’t seem like it was too much of a deep relationship between the pair as, according to The Sun, a source at the time said: “They went on a few dates and had fun, but Maura lives in Ireland.

“Shane is running his successful boxing gym in London, and then she was travelling for work, so it wasn’t easy to pull off.”

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There apparently weren’t any ‘hard feelings’ when it ended and it was pretty ‘short-lived’ – so who knows if Higgins ever met the boxing promoter dad.

McGuigan was apparently a bit of a late casting for ITV as he reportedly replaced fellow star of the boxing world Ally McCoist.

I’m A Celeb 2024 line-up:

· Coleen Rooney

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· Danny Jones

· Oti Mabuse

· Alan Halsall

· GK Barry

· Dean McCullough

· Tulisa

· Jane Moore

· Melvin Odoom

· Maura Higgins

· Barry McGuigan

· Rev Richard Coles

LADbible has contacted representatives for Maura Higgins and ITV for comment.

Topics: ITV, Im A Celebrity, Celebrity

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_